Badaling Great Wall

There is an old saying goes in China, one who fails to reach the Great Wall is not a hero. Badaling Great Wall in Beijing is the best-preserved and most complete section. You should visit it at least once in your life.

Most of the preserved parts were built and reinforced during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD) to defend Beijing against the intrusion of northern Mongolians.

It’s 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) with 43 watchtowers in this section all along but unfortunately, only 2.3 miles (3.74 kilometers) and 19 watchtowers have been restored and opened to visitors.

In this section, the wall is about 26 feet (7.8 meters) tall, and 20 feet (6 meters) wide on average, which would allow five horses to gallop or ten soldiers to march abreast.

It is built of huge bar stones and bricks. The interior of the wall is firm and solid because of the rammed earth and small stones in it.

The ancient workers drilled a number of holes in the wall for the soldiers to watch enemies and to shoot arrows.

The watchtowers were built for accommodation to soldiers, send messages, observe the enemy, and store supplies. The shooting and observing holes also exist.

The Great Wall witnessed many important events in history: the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD), Yuan Taizu, conquered it and took control over Beijing then the whole of China. And began the rule of the Yuan Dynasty; Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD) fled from there to Western China in 1900 when an alliance of eight Western countries controlled Beijing.

It has attracted tens of millions of tourists both from home and abroad to visit it. More than 370 famous people abroad have visited it such as former US presidents Nixon, Reagan, Carter, Gorge W Bush, Queen Elizabeth II of the UK, and former South Africa president Mandela.